Guerlain Christmas 2013 - Nail Polish 861 Sulfurous & UV Topcoat

 
This year's Christmas Collection from Guerlain is a little departure from the classic Guerlain designs. Taking its theme as "Crazy Paris", it's a celebration of colour inspired by the sights and sounds of the brand's home city. Packaged in shiny black accented with glints of neon pink, it consists of an eyeshadow palette, a nail polish and top coat, a new Rouge G, a Rouge Automatic, the iconic Meterorites perles, a perfumed shimmer powder (this year in La Petite Robe Noire), and two new pressed powders one a bronzer, and one pressed Meteorites.  I'm loving the black and the pink (in the most part), but how do the products stack up?

 Well, I have a selection of them here, and I'll be showcasing the collection throughout the week, starting today with the "black without black" nail polish: Sulfurous (£18).

I love this colour, it's a deep, dark grey, with hints of brown but there's a beautiful hint of violet and pink in there too. Whilst it is deep, you could consider the shade almost a neutral.  In some lights it is brown, others it's a grey, and in yet others it could be considered a purple, it's a very complex, and rather beautiful colour, I like it a great deal.

The pictures in this post show the shade after three days of wear, and I have to admit I've been impressed with how it's worn so far.  I was a little sceptical when Guerlain announced their entry into nailcare, but on the evidence of this polish, and the other one I've had to test recently, I have to admit my cynicism was a little misplaced.

The collection also comes with a UV topcoat (£18), which has three main functions.  One, as a glossy topcoat, obvs. Two, if you wear it on bare nails, the slight purple tones will have a whitening effect on any staining, or yellowness,and thirdly, it'll also glow under ultra violet light!  Now, I can't even remember the last time I went near a UV light, and I doubt I'll be near one in the near future either unless I buy an aquarium ... however, it's a good very glossy (albeit slightly on the gloopy side) topcoat, which really does seem to protect the polish it's covering.  It's not particularly quick-drying though, beware!

The "Crazy Paris" Christmas collection from Guerlain will launch on November 1st.

Back tomorrow with more of the collection ... 

The Fine Print: PR Samples.

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Lippie's Lust List #847,563,476: Guerlain Christmas 2013

Basically, this is just a sneaky peek at what's coming up on the blog next week (what do you mean I only showed you Guerlain Autumn last week?) ....

Anything catch your eye? 

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Gels from L'Occitane, Ioma and Champneys.

Confession time: I am not doing well in this heat.  I am exhausted to the point where I've actually considered getting myself admitted  to hospital just to get some damn rest (and I'm not even slightly joking), sleeping in this humidity is proving next to impossible, and when you add in that July brought some bad tidings, and well, it's not been my favourite month this year, not by a long chalk.  Things are, however, getting better as the heat starts to lessen.

These gel body products have also been helping.  Ordinarily, I don't use body lotion (I have normal skin from the neck down, so I don't need body lotions very often at all), and I definitely don't get along with gel products as a rule (up until recently, you couldn't have paid me to use a gel product on my face, however, that's a topic for a different blog post), but in this heat, these three have been a godsend.

First of all, L'Occitane Lavande Body & Massage Gel.  Ostensibly a product designed for massage, this lavender-scented gel is thick and rather viscous, but rubs in nicely and is gloriously cool in the doing so.  I like this rubbed onto the back of the neck and over the forehead to both cool and soothe on stressful days. £20 from L'Occitane stockists.

Next is Ioma Soothing Gel for Legs.  A menthol-scented gel that is simply THE most cooling thing on the planet.  It's wonderful on your feet if you've had a hard day wandering around all over, refreshing and feels cleansing, and really cools down hot limbs and extremities.  The bumpf that goes with this product claims that it is great for all kinds of skin and leg concerns (including varicose veins). Sadly I haven't been using it long enough to test any of those claims, but this feels magnificent on the skin, and the added menthol zing really adds to the cooling sensation.  On the down side, this is £55 from Harrods.

And finally, the cheap and cheerful option, which is the Champneys Energising Lime Hydrating Body Gel.  Deliciously scented with lime and peppermint (reminiscent of a mojito), this rather thin and runny gel is great for cooling chests and arms, where you can smell and enjoy the refreshing scent.  It's not quite as cooling as the Ioma gel owing to the lack of menthol in the mix, but it is a good moisturising product, and the smell is lovely.  Cheap as chips too,  it's available at Boots for £8.  Get some in!  Anyone for a cocktail?  Anyone? Anyone?

How are you managing in the hot weather?
 
The Fine Print: Mixture of PR samples and purchases.

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Sneak Peek! QVC TSV 02/08: Ego Boost Pod

 

I love a TSV, don't you?  And I love beautiful packaging too, luckily for me the Ego Boost Pod is both.  What's an Ego Boost Pod? I hear you ask?  Well, I'll tell you.  It is, essentially, a set of heated rollers, but with a bit of a difference, one not limited to the lovely package.

Inside the box is a "pod", a set of 14 rollers, and clips to hold them in your hair.  They're extremely simple to use - you just pop a roller into the pod, wait till it beeps (it'll take just four seconds), then roll it into position in your hair.  Then you simply pop another roller into the pod to heat up, and repeat until you're done. You can get all of them both heated up, and into position in about five minutes, or even less if you've already combed and sectioned your hair ready to go.

Best of all the rollers don't burn your fingers! The heat is on a bit of a delay, so they only really start warming up once they're already in position, very handy if, like me, you're a bit of a cack-handed muppet.  You take them out once they're cooled (which takes about 15-20 minutes), brush through, and presto! Lovely hair.  I've tried them out a few times this week, and my hair has been great, full of body and bounce, and not having to wait for the rollers to heat up has been a blessing.


The pod is a beautifully designed bit of kit, I especially adore the way the back of the pod pops out to give you somewhere to store the cable - so useful! Hey, I'm easily pleased.  It means you can keep it out on your dressing table without having a tangle of messy wires all over the place.  I have an Ego hairdryer which has been going strong for nearly five years now, they're a company I like (well, I'm a big fan of burgundy, I would).  Whilst I'd say the purchase price was high, on a cost per use basis, they're as cheap as chips if the use I get from my hairdryer is anything to go by ... one handy hint though, you will need some extra rollers if you have a lot of hair, so if you get a chance to buy some supplemental roller packs, do so.

The Ego Boost Pod set of heated rollers will normally retail  on QVC at £120, but on Friday 2nd August, it will be the Today's Special Value on the channel where you will get the pod, alongside fourteen rollers alongside clips, for an extra-special price - look out for it!  EDIT: Today's price is only £99.99, and is available on Easy Pay for three instalments of £33.33.

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Butter London Summer 2013 Collection

 

  
Yawn.  Summer collections, eh?  Chuck in a gold, a bit of brown, a bronze, an orange, and OH! a bright blue no one in their right mind would ever wear, and VOILA! You have the summer palette of your dreams.  In eyeshadow terms, this is so overdone as to be cliché, but somehow, translate it into nail varnish instead and I'm sold.

Butter London's summer collection manages to take the stereotypical "summer" palette, and makes it fun which is unexpected.  There's a turquoise, platinum, a really yellow gold, a bronze glitter and an almost neon orange, all of which I really like.

Although, if someone wants to explain what "Bit Faker" actually means, I'd really appreciate it.  There's one creme (Poole = soft turquoise), three shimmers (Champers, Marbs & Sunbaker) and one glitter.  I tried out two coats of Champers:

Which was really frosty, without being too brush-stroke-y, and I jazzed it up with a little Bit Faker on the ring finger.  Then, I very quickly got bored of it (yes, it's nice, but ... well, it's a bit dull), and covered it all up with two coats of Bit Faker, just to see what it would look like:

I surprised myself by really liking the glitter! In fact, I liked it so much that I've still got it on, and I've not even bothered swatching the others.... 

Any favourites?
  
The Fine Print: PR Samples ...
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Guerlain Autumn 2013 Rouge Gs - Madame Reve, Madame Flirte, Madam Batifole

I recently posted that I was really looking forward to the new autumn collection from Guerlain, and last week, I was lucky enough to be able to pick up the Rouge G's from the Violette de Madame collection a little bit early.  There's very little that makes me happier than a brand new Rouge G ... 

There are three new shades, Madame Reve, a soft, sheer medium pink, Madame Flirte, a soft, slightly warm red, with a light dusting of gold shimmer, and Madame Batifole, a fuchsia pink.   As soon as I saw the promo shots, I knew these were for me!

They're clad in the same classic housing as the regular Rouge G lipsticks, this time with a "fishnet" effect. 

Daylight

Flash

The texture is the same soft, rich and creamy formulation  that I've come to know and love, not as firm as a Tom Ford lipstick, but not quite as balmy as a Chantecaille Lip Chic, these are moisturising, and (Reve aside), fairly pigmented.

Daylight

 

 

Flash

 

 

They're softly glossy, and easy to wear.  By far the most pigmented is Madame Batifole (which, not entirely coincidentally, is my favourite), but Reve and Flirte are both great everyday shades.  Batifole is rather dramatic, and if your tolerance for dramatic lipsticks is lower than mine it'll make a great evening shade.

Here's how they look on my rather unevenly pigmented lips:

Yes, at £31 each, they're not cheap, but a Rouge G is a thing of beauty forever.  They'll be on counter August 1st.

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Narcisco Rodriguez Musc Oil for Her

  
Musk-based fragrances have really, really grown on me this year, I came within a whisper of wearing Serge Lutens Clair de Musc for my wedding (choosing to wear Khiel's Musk body lotion with L'Artisan Safran Troublant instead, but it was an extremely close-run thing), and my musk obsession started with re-discovering the Body Shop White Musk Oil around this time last year.

Narcisco Rodriguez Musc for Her is a new range from NR, and there's a  musc oil released too (limited edition), which I was sent to try.  Now, I wasn't a particular fan of the original For Her fragrance, so won't be bothering comparing the two scents, but this is a very pretty, lightly floral scent, which I've enjoyed wearing a great deal.  

It's a warm scent, which stays very close to the skin. Clean, and slightly sweet-smelling, that isn't entirely a million miles away from the slightly more diffusive Clair de Musc (the two layer extremely well, in fact, the RM anchors the CdM to the skin, making both last longer), it's exceedingly pretty.  I find it also makes a good layering scent for other fragrances too, like the Tom Ford Plum Japonais that I'll be telling you about on Friday.

Narcisco Rodriguez Musc Oil for her is a limited edition (the rest of the range is a permanent line), and will cost £66.

The Fine Print: PR Sample.

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